


Visiting Family

by ashindk



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-30
Updated: 2013-07-30
Packaged: 2017-12-21 21:08:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/904963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashindk/pseuds/ashindk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Harry hears that Dudley, of all people, is the father of a magical child, he doesn't know what to expect</p>
            </blockquote>





	Visiting Family

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for beta reading [](http://susannah-wilde.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://susannah-wilde.livejournal.com/)**susannah_wilde**

  
Harry thinks the Great Hall seems even bigger than usual, when the students and most of the staff are home for Easter. Draco is there, of course, and a few of the other teachers, but most of them have left the table already. The only reason Harry is still there is that Draco is still savouring his second helping of pudding. Harry catches his hand under the table and smiles.

The headmistress' heels click against the marble floor. The rhythm is probably a little slower than when he and Draco were students, but still brisk and efficient, Harry thinks.

“Ah! Harry. I was hoping to catch you before you retreated to your chambers. Can I have a word, please? In private?”

“There's nothing you can't tell me in front of Draco, Minerva. Unless there's a matter of confidentiality, of course...”

“Very well, then. There's an errand I want you to take care of for me. Usually I'd go myself, but I think in this case it would be better if you went. You should both go, actually. You've both got Auror training, after all.”

“Of course, Minerva. We'd be happy to.”

“Tell me, Harry, do you keep in contact with your Muggle relatives?”

“Not really, no. I exchanged a few letters with my cousin after the war, and he wrote me a Christmas card a few years back. I wrote him one the next year. That's about it.”

“So you know that your cousin has children?”

“Yes. A boy and a girl.... Sophia must be nine, and Jack...” Oh! Dudley's son must be about to turn eleven. Harry's suddenly not feeling very well. “Is this conversation going where I think it's going?”

Minerva nods and Harry's stomach turns to ice. He reaches for Draco's hand and squeezes. Hard. Dudley may not be like Vernon, but he's still deathly afraid of magic, and the last Harry heard, he was still very close with his parents. The thought of another little boy growing up in that environment is enough to make Harry queasy. He doesn't realise that he's hyperventilating until he feels Draco's hand rubbing his back in firm circles.

“Breathe, Harry. We'll sort it out, yeah? I'll come with you.”

“Yeah. Okay. When do you want us to go, Minerva?”

“I think as soon as possible would be best, if there's a possibility the child is suffering. But it's entirely up to you. You know the situation best.”

“Right. We'll go as soon as we've changed into Muggle clothes.”

“Very well, then. Good luck.”

\- - -

Dudley lives in a small town not far from Little Whinging. When Harry and Draco Apparate in a small park, he's surprised to see the street Dudley lives on looks nothing like Privet Drive. The house they're walking towards is old and looks lived in. There is light shining through the windows, and balloons tied to the gate that leads to the small, but well-tended, front garden. Harry can hear laughter and the high-pitched voices of children inside. It occurs to him that today must be Jack's eleventh birthday. He hadn't realised that. There's a light tap on his shoulder.

“Maybe we should wait,” Draco whispers.

Harry shakes his head. “We've come this far. I'm not turning back now.”

“No, I know that. But listen to them; they sound so happy. Maybe we should stay here for a few minutes. I packed an Extendable Ear, and I know you have that cloak of yours stashed away somewhere on your person. We could just... get a feel for the situation before we go inside.”

“Maybe you're right. It's his birthday, after all. It wouldn't exactly make a good first impression if we barged in and ruined his party.”

Draco nods. Harry reaches into his coat and grabs the cloak. The familiar feeling of the silky soft fabric is soothing. He has faced much worse than this, with the cloak as his only protection. He shakes it out and steps close to Draco, before draping it over them both. Draco's arms come up around him and he relaxes back into the embrace. It's comforting, standing here in the garden, feeling the light wind of a mild spring evening, surrounded by strong arms.

Draco hands him an Extendable Ear and nudges him towards the window. It's been left open a bit, and Harry can hear the voices from inside, even without the Ear. He feeds it through the crack in the window anyway, and leans forward to take a look inside.

The room is strewn with toys, and two children are sprawled side by side on the floor. The boy with the messy straw-coloured hair and rounded features looks so much like the Dudley that Harry remembers from years ago. Jack is playing a game with his little sister, smiling and only grumbling a little when she cheats.

“When you've finished this round, it's bedtime.” Harry can hear the smile in the voice. He looks towards the sofa, where a kind-looking woman is looking up from one of those fancy new tablet computers that Draco secretly covets. She must be Dudley's wife. Emma, Harry's mind supplies.

“Why couldn't Gran and Granddad come to my birthday?” Jack asks.

“Granddad wasn't feeling well, so Gran stayed home to look after him.” Harry looks towards the back of the room where Dudley is entering, wiping his hands on a dishtowel, before slinging it over his shoulder. There's a small wrinkle appearing between his eyebrows, and when he looks at Emma, her smile is a lot smaller than before. “You should both go and put on your pyjamas and brush your teeth, now. Come down here when you're finished, and we'll come upstairs and say goodnight.”

“Should we wait for them to put the kids to bed, or go in now?” Draco whispers.

Harry thinks about it for a second and nods. Jack seems like he's as well-loved by his parents as any other child. And Harry really wants to give him his letter in person.

“Yeah. Let's go in now.”

\- - -

 

Harry takes a deep breath before knocking at the door. He can feel Draco's steadying hand on the small of his back, and leans back into the warm touch. There are steps in the hallway, and the light behind the door flickers on. He forces his body into a relaxed and open stance, and arranges his face into a neutral but pleasant expression. He knows without looking that Draco is doing the same. How to behave when seeking out civilians in their home is one of the things they were taught in their first year of Auror training.

The doorknob is turning and the door swings slightly open.

“May I help you?” Emma says.

“Good evening,” Draco replies. Harry notes that he's toning the aristocratic accent down a bit. “I’m Professor Malfoy. This is my colleague Professor Potter. We were wondering if we might have a word with you and your husband, regarding your son.”

“Oh!” She's frowning a bit. “I'm sorry, but I think there's been a mistake. Our Jack doesn't have teachers by those names. Are you sure you're at the right house?”

“Yes, Mrs Dursley. We're here to talk about Jack. May we step inside for a moment?”

Emma looks sceptical. “Actually, we were just about to put the children to bed. It's Jack's birthday, you see...”

“Who is it, Love?” Dudley's voice comes from behind the half-closed door.

“Hello, Dudley,” Harry says.

Dudley shoulders his way past his wife and the door is opened wide.

“Harry! Please, come on in!” He steps aside and gestures for them to move past him into the hallway. “Emma, this is my cousin Harry and his partner Draco,” he introduces them. He doesn't seem particularly surprised, Harry notes. Emma looks slightly puzzled, but she covers it up quickly and offers to take their coats.

He startles slightly when Dudley's meaty hand lands on his shoulder.

“I had a feeling you might be visiting us soon,” Dudley says quietly, casting a meaningful glance at where Emma is showing Draco into the living room. “Does this mean what I think it means?”

Harry nods. “It does. We didn't think an owl would be a good idea...” he trails off, not really wanting to dredge up all the reasons why a regular Hogwarts letter would have been a potential disaster. But Dudley seems to get it anyway.

“Right. I can see why you would think that. I've suspected about Jack for a while now. It's not hard to spot, when you know what to look for... But I haven't told Emma. I wanted to be sure. If I told her and he wasn't... you know... m- magical, she'd think I'd gone barmy.”

“Yeah. She probably would.”

They share a small smile, and Harry knows they're both thinking about his aunt and uncle's crazy reaction, when he got his own Hogwarts letter. He wouldn't have dreamt, back then, that he would have been able to smile at those memories. And with Dudley, of all people. It's kind of nice.

“Can I meet Jack?” he asks, and Dudley nods and gestures for him to go first.

“Yeah. You should go and say hello, and give him his letter. And I have about a million questions...”

“I'll do my best to answer them,” Harry promises. They share another smile, before going into the living room.

\- - -

Jack is staring at the letter in awe.

“A wizard?” he whispers, looking up at Harry and Draco with wide, curious eyes.

Harry offers him a smile and nods.

“Yeah! I know it can be scary at first, but--”

“No, actually! I was afraid there was something wrong with me. That I was some sort of... freak. But being a wizard? That's really cool!” Jack is beaming at his parents, and Harry sees Dudley smiling back. Emma is still looking like she's not sure if it's all just a very elaborate joke by her husband.

Sophia breaks the moment, when she jumps to her feet and walks over to where Draco is sitting in an armchair. She plants her slipper-clad feet on the rug and her small fists on her hips.

“Can you show me some magic?” she asks. “Real magic? Not card tricks or pulling a coin out of my ear. Because I know that's just grownups being silly.”

Harry almost laughs at Draco's horrified expression. Transfiguring a coin from ear wax is not exactly on the Hogwarts curriculum.

“I can show you.” Draco looks at Dudley for confirmation. “If that's all right?”

“Sure! No pig’s tail, though.” Dudley looks a little green at the memory. Draco just looks confused.

This time Harry does laugh. “No pig’s tail,” he promises.

\- - -

The kids are in bed and they're sitting around the table, which holds a tray of tea and left over birthday cake. Harry and Draco have Vanished the last of the canaries Draco Conjured for Sophia and Emma is starting to look less jumpy and frightened.

Dudley is pouring tea for everybody when Emma clears her throat.

“So you knew that Jack was a w-- a wizard?” she asks.

Dudley looks slightly sheepish when he nods. “I didn't know, but I suspected.”

“How?”

“When Harry and I were growing up, odd things were always happening everywhere he went. His hair grew back overnight when he'd had it cut, the glass disappeared when we were looking at snakes at the zoo... that sort of thing... And then he turned eleven and his letter came. Or... letters, really...” Dudley shudders lightly at the memory, and Harry can't help the grin that's spreading over his face.

Emma is nodding. “Yeah, that does sound familiar. Jack has always been prone to ending up in strange situations.”

“I first suspected a few years ago, with the telly. Remember?”

“I do,” Emma turns to Harry and Draco to explain.

“I'd told him that when Sophia was in the room, he could only watch the kids' channel, and I put the remote on the top shelf, so he wouldn't be able to change it. When I came back in, he was watching one of those awful teen shows with werewolves and what not. Sophia was terrified. The remote was still on the shelf, and when I asked him, he said he'd just wished for something more dramatic. It happened a few times after that. I even took the TV back to the shop and had them look at it. No wonder they told me nothing was wrong with it.”

“Yeah,” Harry says. “That does sound like a typical case of accidental magic. It happens to all wizard kids, but of course it's a lot harder for Muggle-borns. They tend to get in trouble for things they can't help.”

“What does that mean, 'Muggle-born'?” Emma asks.

“It's a term we use for children born with magic, to non-magical parents,” Draco explains.

“Are there many Muggle-born children?”

“No. There are some, but most Hogwarts students have at least one parent with magic.”

“Isn't it difficult for the Muggle-born students? If their classmates have known about magic their whole life. Will Jack be bullied? Left out?”

“It is a lot to get used to. And back when Harry and I were students, it was difficult for Muggle-borns. It's different now, though,” Draco says.

“One of my best friends is Muggle-born,” Harry says. “Hermione. She's organising a summer course every year for Muggle-borns who are about to start Hogwarts. I can give you her phone number, if you want to contact her about Jack. “

\- - -

The Great Hall is buzzing with excited voices. The new first years are gathered right outside the open doors and Harry can't help stretching a little, trying to find Jack. At first he can't see him, but then he realises that all he has to do is look for Hugo's flaming red hair, and chances are that Jack will be close by. The two boys have become close friends over the summer. Jack has taught Hugo to play football, and Hugo is trying and failing to make Jack a Chudley Cannons fan.

When the Sorting Hat breaks into song, Draco leans over and whispers, “If you've got cold feet, you still have time to withdraw.”

Harry pinches him under the table.

“Never! Jack's a Ravenclaw, no doubt about that!”

“He's a Gryffindor if I've ever seen one. Hugo Weasley, on the other hand, is the perfect Slytherin.”

“No he's not! You'll owe me, just wait and see,” Harry whispers.

The Hat stops singing, and the first name is called. They clap politely as each student is Sorted, and when the Hat is put on Davies, Samantha's head and promptly calls out “Ravenclaw!” they lean forward in anticipation.

“Dursley, Jack,” the Headmistress says, and Harry can’t help reaching for Draco's hand under the table.

The Hat takes its time, before finally yelling “Hufflepuff!” Harry can almost feel Draco's quiet laugh even as he claps and smiles at Jack, who is making his way towards the Hufflepuff table with a smile on his face.

And suddenly there are only two students left on the podium. Hugo leaves Aurelia Zabini's side and steps forward. The Hat barely touches his head before it cries “Slytherin!” and the Hall is left in stunned silence for a fraction of a second, before Harry gets to his feet and cheers. He can see Draco practically beaming at his new student and knows that he's genuinely looking forward to teaching Hugo, even if the grin on his face is at least partly caused by the idea of the agony it will cause Ron to have a son in Slytherin.

\- - -

“Do you think we're filthy perverts?” Draco asks.

Harry props himself up on an elbow and looks down at him. Draco's gorgeous like this. He's still flushed and sweaty and his hair is mussed. He's sprawled naked and completely relaxed on their bed. Relaxed apart from a small frown on his face, that is.

“No?!? Why would we be?”

“Because we bet a blowjob on which House your nephew was sorted into? And we both lost.”

Harry shakes his head and laughs.

“I think we're fine.”

Draco smiles and rolls over, pulling the sheet with him and covering them both up.  



End file.
